Kick

By Robin Oliver, reviewer

9 June 2007 — 10:00am

SBS has got this thing about ethnic mix - them's the rules - but if the results on occasion seem preachy and off the mainstream of Australian life, then it's time to meet Miki Mavros. Oh, oh, oh, what a girl!

This Greek-Australian of striking good looks is a grown-up brat, lazy, arrogant, manipulative, rude and runs an apartment that looks like a sty for disgruntled swine. It seems showbiz no longer beckons and, having run up $3000 in parking fines, Miki (Zoe Ventoura) thinks it best to head home across the city to Hope Street, notably on the corner of Love Street in working-class Melbourne.

Hope Street is not entirely welcoming. Miki has friends there but her mother, Dora, is a hysterical control-freak (wonderfully played by Maria Mercedes), while her father, Takis (George Kapiniaris), is more accommodating, even when police come calling about the fines. Dora and Takis now have their daughter just where they want her. Miki must get a job and Dora knows just where.

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Kick is fast going. Breathlessly fast until we catch the pace, for while this initially appears to be Greek-flavoured comedy, there is heaps more to the mix. Down the street, the boys all have eyes for Tatiana (Natasha Cunningham), a Serbo-Russian who wants only to play soccer, while Lebanese-born Osama Salim (Stephen Lopez) prefers AFL and wants to be called Ozzie.

Osama's sister, Layla (Nicole Chamoun), uni student and fencing exponent, is about to take an unexpected stroll down Love Street. Hoa Tran (Anh Do) is harder to track. He has two jobs but also seemingly hopeless plans to open a karaoke restaurant.

Finally, the serious and seriously handsome British doctor Joe Mangeshkar (Raji James) is looking for a receptionist. Ignore the obvious ethnic traps; things are untangling nicely.